Govt universities appointments | USAID scholarships

SHC stays key appointments in govt universities
Karachi, May 31: The Sindh High Court on Friday restrained the Universities and Board
secretary and others from finalising the appointment of the registrar,
director finance and controller examinations of different public sector
universities in the province till further orders.

The
interim order came on a petition filed by Sohail Ahmed and others, who
were the controller of examination, the registrar and the director
finance of the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology,
Jamshoro; the Quaid-e-Awam University of Science and Technology; the
Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Nawabshah; and the NED University of
Karachi. They challenged the impugned advertisement for the appointment
of the registrar, director finance and controller of examination for the
MUET, NED, SBBU and QAUST.

The petitioners' counsel,
Barrister Zamir Ghumro, submitted that his clients were validly
appointed after a legal process at the posts, however, the Sindh
government for mala fide reasons had floated an advertisement in various
newspapers inviting applications for the appointments against the said
positions of different universities, including MUET, NED, SBBU and QAUST
although the same were positions were not lying vacant.

He
submitted that the posts of registrar, director finance and controller
examination happened to be permanent posts and were held by the
petitioners on a permanent and regular basis. He said the posts never
fell vacant and there were no analogous posts, consequently it was
beyond understanding that in the presence of permanent and regular
officers, how fresh advertisement could be published for making direct
appointments.

He submitted that a fresh appointment
against a permanent post could not be made unless the said post fell
vacant, whereas the University and Board secretary had advertised the
posts occupied by the petitioners on regular and permanent basis, which
was tantamount to dismiss/remove/terminate the petitioners without any
basis.

The counsel argued that the respondents had grossly
misused powers conferred on them without any rationale in floating the
advertisement for the said posts and without considering the laid down
rules, which was a blatant misuse of authority and promoting nepotism
and unnecessary political interference.

The counsel
submitted that the impugned advertisement was against academic freedom
and positions were not available to be filled and the same should be
filled in by the universities concerned. The counsel said the impugned
advertisement would amount to the termination of the petitioners. An SHC
division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar observed that the
points of the petitioners required consideration and issued notices to
the chief secretary, the principal secretary to Sindh governor, the
Universities and Board secretary and others for June 4. The news

SU launches mini hospital
Karachi: The Sindh University has launched its comprehensive health care
facility (Mini Hospital) for women & children; which has started
operational activities after it was inaugurated by the vice-chancellor
Prof. Dr. Nazir A. Mughal & Divisional Commissioner Hyderabad Jamal
Mustafa Syed here on Friday. The keys of ambulance provided by the
university were also handed over to the in-charge of the Mini Hospital
Dr. Arbeela Agha.

The Mini Hospital for Women & Children is an
epitome of technological excellence. The state of art equipment like
High Frequency Oscillators, Nitric Oxide delivery system, Total Parental
Nutrition, Pneumatic Chute, Laminar Flow system in the intensive care
and Operating Theatre areas greatly enhance the quality of service and
clinical outcomes. After inaugurating the Mini Hospital near Marvi Girls
Hostel at Sindh University Jamshoro, the vice chancellor &
commissioner along with other notables visited different parts of the
hospital including ward rooms, staff rooms, medical dispensary,
autoclave & labour room. On the occasion, Dr. Arbeela Agha said: in
order to broaden its horizon to include older infants and children, the
Hospital is adding the Pediatric Division which is going to provide the
highest quality paediatric medical and surgical services.

USAID awards scholarships to Sindh students
Karachi: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
awarded scholarships to 102 students enrolled in Associated Diploma in
Education (ADE) and Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) (Hons) programmes in
Sindh as part of the $165 million Pakistan Reading Project. USAID
provincial Director for Sindh and Balochistan Leon S Waskin also acting
US Consul General for Sindh attended the event with Sindh Additional
Chief Secretary of Education Dr Fazlullah Pechuho. The scholarships will
pay for tuition and supplies as well as provide a stipend to
recipients.

The US government will provide more than 4,500 scholarships
to aspiring teachers. During the ceremony, 11 future teachers who
recently completed a US-funded ADE programme were awarded graduation
certificates. Waskin said, "The quality and improvement of the education
system depends critically upon the quality of teachers. The USAID
funded Pakistan Reading Project is a significant initiative of the US
government in collaboration with the government of Pakistan to improve
the standard of basic education." Dr Fazalullah Pechuho thanked US
government for their support in improving the standard of basic
education in Sindh. The Pakistan Reading Project will improve the
reading skills of at least 2.5 million children to ensure they are
reading at or above grade level by 2019. The Project works closely with
28 Pakistani universities and 116 elementary teacher-training colleges
throughout Pakistan to improve the quality of teaching skills and
curriculum. Over the next five years, the Pakistan Reading Project will
award a total of 1,066 ADE and B.Ed (Hons) scholarships to students from
Sindh.

The US partnership with the government of Pakistan supports the
rehabilitation and construction of over 1,350 schools in Sindh, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the Federally Administered
Tribal Areas. The United States is establishing centres for advanced
education studies at four Pakistani universities and expanding English
skills for more than 5,000 low-income students. The United States has
awarded more than 4,800 scholarships to university students to pursue
higher education through the Pakistan-USAID Merit and Needs Based
Scholarship Programme. Daily times

Your Comments
"Salam, I m sana parveen from dadu i want to tell you that i dont take my ade scholarship of last semester because u have given me the chek or 60000 thousands rupees and my actuall check is about 20000 thousands rupees . therefore the directors do not give me the chek and it has 8 days ago they will asked me that they will give me the chek early but they can not sent my chek . please give me my scholarship. thanks"
Name: sana parveen
Email:noorshehzadi3@gmail.com
City, Country: dadu pakistan

Over 850 schools in Thatta, Sujawal closed
Thatta: Out of 3,226 girls and boys primary schools, more
than 850 are closed in nine talukas of Thatta and Sujawal districts and
those operational are also not up to the mark.

According to facts
compiled from the education department documents, it is due to
negligence of the quarters concerned that academic career of some
180,948 children is at a stake and due to closure of these schools more
than 50,000 students have been deprived of primary education.

An
official of the district education department on condition of anonymity
said education standard in the remaining operating schools was not up to
the mark.

He said, despite hectic steps taken during a campaign
jointly launched by the district judiciary and education department in
recent months, nothing could be achieved positively.

Civil
society, parents, socio political activists and the district and
education department authorities seem to be blind folded on the subject.

In
this connection, a number of donors from Islamabad and Karachi had
tried to help the poverty-ridden population of these coastal district to
get streamlined the primary education. Dawn

SSUET exams
Karachi: The final year semester examinations at the Sir Syed University
of Engineering and Technology start from today (May 26) and would last
for about two weeks. Teachings in all the classes have already been
completed on May 16 and the ongoing week has been allowed to students
for the preparation of exams. The news

FAPUASA suspends academic activities
Karachi: Despite protests and lobbying by the Federation of all Pakistan
Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA); the Sindh government
has issued an advertisement for the appointment of registrars, and
director finance in all the universities of Sindh.

FAPUASA issued a
statement on Sunday, which said, "It is a blatant violation of autonomy
of the universities and would damage hierarchy in institutions. The
FAPUASA has already rejected the Sindh Universities Act 2013 and has
suggested eleven amendments."

The Sindh government's representatives have assured their support and have accepted the FAPUASA demands in letter and spirit.

TechLabx, PAF KIET University to launch job-oriented courses
Karachi: TechLabx in collaboration with the PAF KIET University is
launching job oriented courses to help students get jobs in a
competitive and conducive environment. The students can avail these
summer courses on perfect platform of PAF KIET with purely skilled
professionals of the TechLabx.

The courses starting from June 7 in the
PAF KIET, North Nazimabad Campus are CCNA, networking, graphic
designing, web designing, Linux (RHCSA), and SQL. The courses are aimed
at preparing students for international certifications. PAF KIET would
issue course certificates to the students. Speaking about the importance
of courses, Sarah Zahoor, senior official at TechLabx said that
continual learning and time saving is mandatory for students to become
successful in their fields. She said there are many capable and talented
people who want to work and grow but they do not have necessary skills
for getting suitable job. Skilful short courses are the perfect way for
them to start their learning process and boosting skills for getting
lucrative jobs.

Short courses help students to fill gaps in their
knowledge and gain particular skills that may be needed for promotion,
she added. It also shows the employer that you are proactive and that
you value on continual learning, Sarah said. She said that short courses
allow you to continue to learn new skills and ways of thinking. These
are perfect for people who want an introduction into various fields to
discover what they like before making a full qualification commitment. Daily times